Method and apparatus for effective distribution and delivery of goods ordered on the World-Wide -Web

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and method for delivering goods ordered by a plurality of customers, in which a plurality of customers place orders for goods from a vendor, the vendor fulfills its orders by combining into a single shipping order the goods ordered by a plurality of customers who are geographically close to a single local pick-up point, and the vendor causes the single shipping order to be sent to a local pick-up point.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional ApplicationNo. 60/216,661, filed Jul. 7, 2000, which is hereby incorporated byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to apparatuses and methods fordistribution and delivery of ordered goods, and in particular toapparatuses and methods for distribution and delivery of goods orderedon the World Wide Web. In a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, apparatuses and methods are provided for delivering orderedgoods to a local distribution center instead of directly to customers'houses for the benefit of reduced shipping costs, and better handling ofperishables.

[0004] 2Related Background

[0005] Internet shopping sites have abounded in recent years. In thesesites, shoppers generally peruse goods that are offered for saleon-line, and can earmark goods for purchase by clicking certain icons toplace them in a virtual “shopping cart” for later purchasing. Thepurchase can then be consummated by proceeding to a “check-out” page orpages, in which certain information, such as payment information(typically a credit card number) and delivery information (typically thehome address of the shopper), is entered. In an alternative model, suchas the model disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,411 to Hartman et al., noshopping cart is used, and the purchase is consummated simply byclicking-on the desired item, with the payment and delivery informationhaving been previously entered. In either case, an Internet shoppingsite suffers from a significant drawback in comparison with aconventional brick-and-mortar store: because in most cases a purchasedgood cannot be provided to the shopper via the Internet, it must beprovided via delivery or some other similar mechanism. By far, the mostcommon way of doing that is to ship the ordered goods to the shopper'shome, using a carrier such as United Parcel Service (UPS), or the like.Such carriers, of course, must be paid for their services, increasingthe cost of selling and/or buying goods over the Internet.

[0006] In addition to the added expense, both to the vendor and to therecipient, of home delivery, carrier-based home delivery of goodssuffers from a further disadvantage in that it often occurs at a timewhen no one is home to accept delivery. This problem is exacerbated bythe fact that generally recipients are not notified by the carrier as tothe time a package will be delivered. This phenomenon can be quiteinconvenient for people who are away from their homes or apartments atwork for the better part of each day.

[0007] Attempts at providing “centralized shopping sites” have been madeto consolidate ordering activities. In a site maintained by Lycos, forexample, various Webbased vendors are made available by clicking an iconfrom the central Lycos portal site. Clicking an icon brings you to theassociated vendor's site. However, when you visit the site, your displayis always framed by Lycos subject matter. Thus, while the appearance ofcentralized shopping may be given, the purchases are done at theindividual sites, using their individualized purchasing and shippingmethodologies.

[0008] U.S. Pat. No. 5,895,454 to Harrington is directed to anintegrated interface for shopping Web sites as well as non-Internetvendors. A database is provided that includes real Internet vendorsites, corresponding to vendors having sites on the Internet, andvirtual Internet vendor sites, which correspond to vendors not having asite on the Internet. A consumer can purchase goods from either of thesetypes of vendors from a common location, using a universal “shoppingtrolley”. Ordered items, however, are still shipped by the individualvendors to the shipper's home.

[0009] While adding convenience for the consumer, these centralizedshopping sites do not address the problem of significant costs for theshipment of the ordered goods.

[0010] Also known, are warehouse/member clubs which provide discountedmerchandise to consumers based upon volume discounts. While allowing ashopper to purchase many items at a single location, these outletsprovide neither the convenience of “shop at home” offered by theInternet, nor the almost unlimited selection available on-line.

[0011] A post office (P.O.) box allows a consumer to receive all of hisor her merchandise at a centralized location. However, shipment ofmerchandise to a P.O. box provides limited benefit to consumers andessentially no benefit to vendors. With regard to consumers, maintenanceof the P.O. box costs money. Therefore, any convenience of centrallocation for the consumer must be balanced against the cost. Further,from the point of view of the vendor, the fact that each customermaintains a central pick-up point results in no consolidation of orderedgoods, since goods are still sent to a separate P.O. box for eachconsumer, resulting in no economies of scale and leaving the vendor withsignificant shipping charges to pass along to all of its customers.

[0012] Further, from the consumer's perspective, P.O. boxes provide nonotification of the arrival of ordered items, have predetermined limitsto the size of the delivered items, and provide limited access times topick-up the delivered items. In addition, the consumer is not keptinformed of the fact that a shipment may contain perishable items andmay delay picking up the package, especially if he or she is used tomaking a once a week pickup.

[0013] Thus, there is a need to provide for an efficient way for vendorsto centralize the shipping process to allow vendors to gain the benefitof consolidated shipping and to provide significant cost and convenienceadvantages to consumers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0014] The present invention addresses the above concerns and presentsnew and novel apparatuses and processes for distribution and delivery oforders, for example, where in a preferred embodiment, orders are placedat a shopping site on the World Wide Web (the “Web”). The inventionprovides local pickup to the extent possible by transporting anddelivering received orders to a local pickup site to consolidateshipments from vendors. In an example embodiment, locally availableitems are earmarked for the user at the local pick-up site. Items notavailable locally are handled by the system communicating with remotevendors and arranging delivery either to the local pickup site ordirectly to the user.

[0015] In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a method for delivering goods ordered by a plurality ofcustomers. The method includes the steps of a plurality of customersplacing orders for goods from a vendor; the vendor fulfilling its ordersby combining into a single shipping order the goods ordered by aplurality of customers who are geographically close to a single localpick-up; and the vendor causing the single shipping order to be sent toa local pick-up point.

[0016] In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, thereis provided a method for designating local receipt of items ordered froma vendor at a remote location. The method includes the steps of: thecustomer providing to the vendor the customer's location; the customerchoosing from local pick-up points offered by the vendor; and uponreceipt of the ordered items at the local pick-up point, receivingnotification that the order is available for pick-up.

[0017] In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, thereis provided a method for delivering goods ordered by a plurality ofcustomers. The method includes the steps of: a plurality of customersplacing orders for goods from a plurality of vendors; each vendorfulfilling their orders by combining into individual shipping orders thegoods ordered by those from among the plurality of customers who aregeographically close to respective local pick-up points; and the vendorscausing the respective shipping orders to be sent to the respectivelocal pick-up points.

[0018] In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, thereis provided an apparatus for controlling delivery of goods to aplurality of customers. The apparatus includes: means for receivingorders from a plurality of customers; means for fulfilling thecustomers' orders by combining into individual shipping orders the goodsordered by those from among the plurality of customers who aregeographically close to respective local pick-up points; and means forcausing the respective shipping orders to be sent to the respectivelocal pick-up points.

[0019] In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, thereis provided a system, having multiple vendors, for allowing the multiplevendors to consolidate shipping of goods to customers. Each vendor hasan apparatus including: means for receiving orders from a plurality ofcustomers; means for fulfilling the customers' orders by combining intoindividual shipping orders the goods ordered by those from among theplurality of customers who are geographically close to respective localpick-up points; and means for causing the respective shipping orders tobe sent to the respective local pick-up points. accordance with yetanother aspect of the present invention, there is provided a shoppingserver on a network comprising a plurality of vendor servers, aplurality of customer client terminals, and local pick-up points, theshopping server being operable to: receive orders from a customerterminal for purchase of a good; communicate with one of the localpick-up points in proximity to the customer who ordered the good, todetermine if the ordered good is currently available at the localpick-up point; and if the good is not currently available at the localpick-up point, communicate with one of the vendor servers to initiatedelivery of the ordered good to the local pick-up point.

[0020] In accordance with still another aspect of the present invention,there is provided a system, having multiple vendors, for allowing themultiple vendors to consolidate shipping of goods to fulfill customerorders received over a network. Each vendor has a network serveroperable to: receive orders from a plurality of customers; fulfil thecustomers' orders by combining into individual shipping orders the goodsordered by those from among the plurality of customers who aregeographically close to respective local pick-up points; and cause therespective shipping orders to be sent to the respective local pick-uppoints.

[0021] In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, thereis provided computer code executable on a network server. The codeincludes: code for receiving orders from a plurality of customers; codefor fulfilling the customers' orders by combining into individualshipping orders the goods ordered by those from among the plurality ofcustomers who are geographically close to respective local pick-uppoints; and code for causing the respective shipping orders to be sentto the respective local pick-up points.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022]FIG. 1A is a block diagram of an Internet based implementation ofthe goods distribution method and apparatus of the present invention;

[0023]FIG. 1B is a block diagram of a server/host computer of theInternet based implementation illustrated in FIG. 1A;

[0024]FIG. 2 is a block diagram of method of improved goods distributionin accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention; and

[0025]FIGS. 3 and 4 are product flow diagrams illustrating the flow ofinformation and goods in accordance with advantageous aspects of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0026] FIGS. 1-4 illustrate preferred embodiments of the method andapparatus for distribution and delivery of Web orders in accordance withpreferred embodiments of the present invention.

[0027] In a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, thesystem utilizes a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet, and evenmore preferably, the World Wide Web (“the Web”) to receive orders fromconsumers at a Web shopping portal. The system preferably includes anInternet (TCP/IP compliant) server that interacts with consumer clientcomputers using the client computer's graphical user interface (GUI).The interface with the consumer preferably allows the consumers tointeractively peruse shopping and delivery options, and more preferably,allows them to preview at any time the present state of their order. Theabove functionality is preferably achieved using a combination of serverside applications, such as common gateway interface programs (CGI), forallowing the server to accept search terms and interface with databases,and client side applets, such as Java applets, or the like, whichexecute in client browser software. Additional functionality will permitthe server to communicate with individual vendor sites and to coordinateand control a central database to keep track of the user's order andchosen options.

[0028] A preferred implementation of the Web-based distribution anddelivery system of the present invention is illustrated in block diagramform in FIG. 1A. In that figure, consumers operating client computers 1are connected to a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet. Suchconnection can be direct or via an Internet service provider (notshown). The client computers 1 each preferably include communicationshardware and an operating system with user interface (GUI) functionalityto allow for interface with the Internet. Each client computerpreferably has graphical World Wide Web (Web) browser software, such asNetscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer, loaded thereonoperable to read and send Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) forms fromand to a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server on the Web. Theclient computer 1 preferably is operable to act as a virtual machine torun Java applets, or the like, downloaded by the browser from theserver.

[0029] Server/host computer system 2 receives information from consumerclient computers 1 over the Internet. The server/host computer system 2preferably includes hardware, HTTP compliant software, an operatingsystem and common gateway interface (CGI) software for interfacing withinput queries and sources of data. The server/host computer system 2also is in communication over the Internet with local distributionservers 4, and with vendor servers 3.

[0030] The term server as used in the present application is intended toinclude, in addition to hardware and software for implementing front-endInternet interfacing functions, also hardware and software to implementback-end computing and communications functions necessary to receive andprocess orders and organize shipping and payment information, suchhardware and software techniques being well known in the art.

[0031] A preferred implementation of the host site is illustrated inblock diagram form in FIG. 1B. As shown in the figure, server/hostcomputer system 2 is controlled by software functions of serverprocessing 5. Among the constituent software components within theserver processing 5 is the consumer/vendor interface processing 10.Consumer/vendor interface processing 10 functions to interface with,among others in the preferred embodiment, vendor servers 3, clientcomputers 1 and local distributors 4. Interface processing 10 executesfunctions in response to input from client computers 1 and initiatescommunication with other servers, such as servers 3 and 4. Dynamic pagegenerator 20 responds to requests from the client computers 1 for HTMLpages 30, which themselves are stored in the server. Transaction 40stores information for the present transaction and the transaction iscompleted by transaction processing module 45. Database processing 50interfaces the server processing 5 with database 55.

[0032] In operation, in the Internet implementation, a consumertypically would type in a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of theserver/host computer system 2 and receive from the server/host computersystem 2 an interactive form, such as an HTML document, as well as anyJava applets, or the like, necessary to allow the consumer to view andsubmit his or her options for visiting vendor sites. The applets and CGIprograms do verifications to ensure, for example, the consumer does notexceed limits related to the constituent Web vendors. Assuming theconsumer request is within appropriate limits, the server processes theorder and redirects, preferably with framing of the visual content, theuser to the vendor selected by the user for each particular itemcurrently being selected.

[0033] The server/host computer system 2 preferably communicates with afinancial computer of the system to utilize input customer credit cardinformation or the like for payment for a user's order.

[0034] In the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, theuser of the present invention shops for items available through on-linevendors and periodically clicks an icon labeled to send the selecteditem to a central “shopping cart”. Advantageously, the user need notconcern him or herself with multiple shopping carts or the repeatedsubmission of payment information, such as credit card numbers or thelike.

[0035] Another advantage of the present invention is the provision oflocal pickup functionality. After the purchase of a filled shopping cartis consummated, the portal site communicates with a server at a localpick-up site, to earmark locally available purchased items for the user.Such earmarking saves shipping costs as to the locally available items,savings which can be passed along to the consumer. In addition, becauseof the centralized Web site, automatic restocking of the local pick-upsites can easily be achieved.

[0036] The local pick-up site preferably has appropriate controls forperishables and the like. For example, refrigeration facilities forperishable goods.

[0037] Advantageously, in the case that the items are not available atthe local site, the portal site's server preferably may initiatecommunication with the servers of the Web-sites offering items notlocally available, to arrange for delivery of those items to the localpick-up site, and/or directly to the user. The user may select a dateand time for local pick-up, or may alternatively be notified whenpick-up is ready.

[0038] In a preferred embodiment, the order is customizable on the basisof certain user parameters. Such parameters may include, for example,the size of the user's vehicle, in which case the user would be notifiedin real-time if the addition of an item would exceed his or hervehicle's limits.

[0039] In another preferred embodiment, the purchaser would be notifiedin real-time as to the impact of the addition of an item will have onthe delivery schedule. In a further refinement of this technique, a userselecting an item that is not locally available may be presented withoptional items that are locally available. In another alternativeembodiment, a user selecting branded items may be offered the option ofselecting non-branded items, offered at a lower price and/or a quickeravailability, instead. It will be appreciated after having read thisspecification that each of these options may be implemented usingstandard programming techniques used to interface between a server andclient computer on the Web.

[0040] Database 55, for example, may hold an account for each customerwhich is updated whenever the customer places a new order and wheneverthe customer takes a delivery. Thereby the customer can interrogate thedatabase to determine the current status of his account.

[0041] In a second embodiment of the invention, as shown in FIG. 2, aconsumer may order products directly over the Internet from anindividual participating vendor or vendors rather than through ashopping portal as in the first embodiment. Once an order has beenplaced with the participating vendor, the consumer is presented with theoption of selecting the local distribution site as the delivery addressrather than the individual's home address. The choice of the localdistribution preferably would be accompanied by a concomitant discountin the shipping cost to the consumer. In this embodiment, the customer'sorder and delivery information is held on the respective vendor andlocal distributor servers. This embodiment allows vendors to consolidateshipping, thereby reducing costs, since all items for all customers in aparticular area would be shipped together to one location, instead tothe individual addresses or P.O. Boxes of the individual consumers.Items in bulk shipment are preferably tagged to identify the customervia a tagging mechanism such as a bar code.

[0042] In accordance with a particularly preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, some or all participating vendors share local pick-upcenters. This feature has the further advantage that all of a consumer'spurchases, from multiple vendors, can be, with appropriate notice givento the consumer, picked up at a single site, at the same time, savingthe consumer multiple trips. Notice to consumers is preferably effectedvia e-mail, although in an alternative implementation the customer couldcheck the status of the order at the Web site of the vendor or of thelocal pick-up site, after having typed in security and identifyinginformation, or via telephone.

[0043] As will be appreciated, once the customer has initially providedpersonal information to the server, cookies downloaded to the customer'sbrowser, to be stored on the customer's computer, can be referenced bythe Web site in subsequent visits of that customer to the Web site.

[0044] In a further preferred embodiment, the option of delivery fromthe local pick-up site can be offered for an additional charge. Thisoption would still obtain the benefit to the vendor of consolidatedshipping to a single site, while allowing the consumer to choose to paya local delivery service to bring the goods to his or her house orbusiness. Once again, the local pick-up option may preferably be chosenwhile at the vendor web site or the web site of the local pick-up siteitself.

[0045] A variation of the second embodiment would entail the localpick-up site using its database of local consumers to help organize abuddy network, which would allow consumers from among a group ofconsumers located in the same area to assign a designated pick-up personfor a predetermined period of time, that person, for example, picking upitems for more than one neighbor. A further advantageous variationprovides a discount for the designated pick-up person.

[0046]FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate the product and information paths used bythe illustrated shipping and distribution modalities of the presentinvention. In the figures, dashed lines represent the flow ofinformation while solid lines represent the flow of goods.

[0047]FIG. 3 shows four possible variations for a multiple customer,single vendor, single local distribution center model. They aredescribed as follows in conjunction with that figure.

[0048] In the first variation, customer 1 places an order with thevendor 12 by exchanging information (product preference, quantity, cost,credit card info, etc.) by an information exchange 10. The vendor 12communicates with a local distribution center (LDC) 14 via informationexchange 20 to determine if any items are in stock, inquire as to thedelivery schedule, or the like. The vendor 12 then sends goods viashipping method 30. LDC 14 and customer 1 are in contact via informationexchange 40 so that customer 1 can query about delivery status and theLDC 14 can notify of delivery. The LDC 14 is also in communication witha local delivery service (LDS) 16 via information exchange 50 to arrangedelivery schedules, and other information related to delivery. The LDS16 preferably is operable to pass information back and forth withcustomer 1 via information exchange 80. Goods flow via 60 from the LDC14 to the LDS 16, which then delivers the goods to customer 1 via goodspath 70.

[0049] In the second variation, customer 2 is identical to customer 1except there is no direct communication between customer 2 and the LDC14, as was the case for customer 1 and information exchange 40. Instead,in the second variation, all information to customer 2 is relayed fromthe LDC 14 to the LDS 16, through information exchange 50, and then fromthe LDS 16 to customer 2, via information exchange path 100. Goods aretransferred through path 60 and then path 90 to customer 2.

[0050] In the third variation, customer 3 operates without making use ofeither the LDS 16 or a means of communication with the LDC 14. After theordering, via information exchange path 10, and delivery from the vendor12 to the LDS 16, utilizing paths 20 and 30, processing is complete, andcustomer 3 must physically go to the LDC 14 to pick up his or her goodsvia goods flow path 130.

[0051] In the fourth variation, customer 4 is identical to customer 3but makes use of additional information exchange path 110 between theLDC 14 and customer 4 so that the customer can check on delivery status,etc. Goods are then picked up by customer 4, by means of goods flow path120.

[0052] With knowledge of the orders of customers 1-4, the vendor 12 canconsolidate the shipping of the orders and only schedule a singledelivery to the LDC 14 to reduce shipping costs. Similarly, the LDS 16can deliver, for example, both customer 1 and customer 2's orders on asingle trip from the LDC 14.

[0053]FIG. 4 illustrates a multiple customer, multiple vendor, singleLDC scenario utilizing the present invention. Each of customers 1through 4 communicates with each of vendors A, B and C via informationexchanges 140, 150 and 160. Optionally, the various orders could beplaced via a single conduit, such as a common web page or universalshopping cart, as described above in relation to the first embodiment,that could be used by the customers to communicate centrally with thevendors rather than working on a one to one basis. After receiving theorders from the customers, the vendors then send physical goods to theLDC 12, via goods flow path 180, either in conjunction with data flowexchange 170, or without any information exchange capability betweenvendors and the LDC 12. From the LDC 12, goods and information can flowto customers via any of the methods described in FIG. 3.

[0054] While the communication methods used to implement the presentinvention have been described in terms of the preferred embodiment,namely via a WAN such as the

[0055] Internet, and more particularly the Web, the invention can alsobe implemented by communication over telephone, facsimile, e-mail, orother methods of communication and still attain many if not all of theadvantages discussed above.

[0056] Other variations and modifications of this invention will beapparent to those skilled in this art after careful study of thisapplication. This invention is not to be limited except as set forth inthe following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for delivering goods ordered by aplurality of customers, comprising the steps of: a plurality ofcustomers placing orders for goods from a vendor; the vendor fulfillingits orders by combining into a single shipping order the goods orderedby a plurality of customers who are geographically close to a singlelocal pick-up; and the vendor causing the single shipping order to besent to a local pick-up point.
 2. A method according to claim 1, whereinthe goods are ordered via the Internet.
 3. A method according to claim1, further comprising notifying the customer when the order is availablefor pick-up.
 4. A method according to claim 1, wherein a customer orcustomer's agent retrieves a collection of goods from the vendor fromthe local pick-up point.
 5. A method for designating local receipt ofitems ordered from a vendor at a remote location, comprising the stepsof: the customer providing to the vendor the customer's location; thecustomer choosing from local pick-up points offered by the vendor; andupon receipt of the ordered items at the local pick-up point, receivingnotification that the order is available for pick-up.
 6. A methodaccording to claim 5, wherein the designation is done via the Internet.7. A method according to claim 5, further comprising a step of thecustomer or customer's agent retrieving a collection of goods from thevendor from the local pick-up point.
 8. A method according to claim 5,further comprising: the customer selecting from among options relatingto the pick-up point customized on the basis of the type of itemsordered, and/or the pick-up capability of the customer.
 9. A method fordelivering goods ordered by a plurality of customers, comprising thesteps of: a plurality of customers placing orders for goods from aplurality of vendors; each vendor fulfilling their orders by combininginto individual shipping orders the goods ordered by those from amongthe plurality of customers who are geographically close to respectivelocal pick-up points; and the vendors causing the respective shippingorders to be sent to the respective local pick-up points.
 10. A methodaccording to claim 9, wherein a customer or customer's agent retrieves acollection of goods from one or more of the plurality of vendors fromthe local pick-up point.
 11. A method according to claim 9, wherein theorders are placed via the Internet.
 12. A method according to claim 9,further comprising: the customer selecting from among options relatingto the pick-up point customized on the basis of the type of itemsordered, and/or the pick-up capability of the customer.
 13. An apparatusfor controlling delivery of goods to a plurality of customers, theapparatus comprising: means for receiving orders from a plurality ofcustomers; means for fulfilling the customers' orders by combining intoindividual shipping orders the goods ordered by those from among theplurality of customers who are geographically close to respective localpick-up points; and means for causing the respective shipping orders tobe sent to the respective local pick-up points.
 14. An apparatusaccording to claim 13, wherein the orders are received via the Internet.15. An apparatus according to claim 13, wherein a customer or customer'sagent retrieves a collection of goods from the local pick-up point. 16.An apparatus according to claim 13, further including: means operable toallow the customer to select from among options relating to the pick-uppoint customized on the basis of the type of items ordered, and/or thepick-up capability of the customer.
 17. A system, having multiplevendors, for allowing the multiple vendors to consolidate shipping ofgoods to customers, each vendor having an apparatus comprising: meansfor receiving orders from a plurality of customers; means for fulfillingthe customers' orders by combining into individual shipping orders thegoods ordered by those from among the plurality of customers who aregeographically close to respective local pick-up points; and means forcausing the respective shipping orders to be sent to the respectivelocal pick-up points.
 18. A system according to claim 17, wherein themultiple vendors' apparatuses are connected on a network.
 19. A systemaccording to claim 18, wherein the network is the Internet.
 20. A systemaccording to claim 17, wherein a customer or customer's agent retrievesa collection of goods from the respective local pick-up point.
 21. Asystem according to claim 17, wherein each vendor's apparatus furthercomprises: means operable to allow the customer to select from amongoptions relating to the pick-up point customized on the basis of thetype of items ordered, and/or the pick-up capability of the customer.22. A shopping server on a network comprising a plurality of vendorservers, a plurality of customer client terminals, and local pick-uppoints, the shopping server being operable to: receive orders from acustomer terminal for purchase of a good; communicate with one of thelocal pick-up points in proximity to the customer who ordered the good,to determine if the ordered good is currently available at the localpick-up point; and if the good is not currently available at the localpick-up point, communicate with one of the vendor servers to initiatedelivery of the ordered good to the local pick-up point.
 23. A shoppingserver according to claim 22, wherein the network is the Internet.
 24. Ashopping server according to claim 22, wherein a customer or customer'sagent retrieves a collection of goods from the local pick-up point. 25.A shopping server according to claim 22, wherein the server is furtheroperable to: allow the customer to select from among options relating tothe pick-up point customized on the basis of the type of items ordered,and/or the pick-up capability of the customer.
 26. A system, havingmultiple vendors, for allowing the multiple vendors to consolidateshipping of goods to fulfill customer orders received over a network,each vendor having a network server operable to: receive orders from aplurality of customers; fulfil the customers' orders by combining intoindividual shipping orders the goods ordered by those from among theplurality of customers who are geographically close to respective localpick-up points; and cause the respective shipping orders to be sent tothe respective local pick-up points.
 27. A system according to claim 26,wherein the network is the Internet.
 28. A system according to claim 26,the network server being further operable to: coordinate with themultiple vendors so as to arrange for shared shipping of ordered goodswhen respective ones from among the multiple vendors have receivedorders to be sent to the identical local pick-up points.
 29. A systemaccording to claim 26, wherein a customer or customer's agent retrievesa collection of goods from the local pick-up point.
 30. A systemaccording to claim 26, the network server being further operable toallow the customer to select from among options relating to the pick-uppoint customized on the basis of the type of items ordered, and/or thepick-up capability of the customer.
 31. Computer code executable on anetwork server, said code comprising: code for receiving orders from aplurality of customers; code for fulfilling the customers' orders bycombining into individual shipping orders the goods ordered by thosefrom among the plurality of customers who are geographically close torespective local pick-up points; and code for causing the respectiveshipping orders to be sent to the respective local pick-up points. 32.Computer code according to claim 31, wherein the network is theInternet.
 33. Computer code according to claim 31, wherein a customer orcustomer's agent retrieves a collection of goods from the local pick-uppoint.
 34. Computer code according to claim 31, further comprising codeto allow the customer to select from among options relating to thepick-up point customized on the basis of the type of items ordered,and/or the pick-up capability of the customer.